OUT OF THE BOX

Mark 6: 45-52. "Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side...Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by." This story is full of spiritual implications, but I will point out only a few. [Please feel free to post any comments or questions that merit further discussion]. “He made His disciples get into a boat.” The “boat” is significant because it represents a context from which we can not easily escape. The disciples, on that small boat in the middle of the sea, could not simply change their minds and walk away from the problems and issues at hand. They could not escape the process; they had to ride it out. The Lord desires to work deeply and significantly in our lives, but He knows that human nature wants to run from the fire and will attempt to escape if it has the option to do so. We would rather tha...

Mark 6: 45-52 is an account of Jesus’ walking on the water to go to His disciples who were struggling with the wind and waves in a storm in the darkness about three or four miles out on the sea. The story is full of spiritual implications, but I will point out only a few. “He made His disciples get into a boat.” The “boat” is significant because it represents a context from which we can not easily escape. Once out on the sea the disciples could not simply change their minds and walk away from the problems and issues at hand. They had to ride it out. The Lord desires to work deeply and significantly in our lives, but He knows that human nature wants to run from the fire and will attempt to escape if it has the option to do so. We would rather than sin than suffer. In the crunch we seek relief rather than the purpose and glory of God. We tend to be like the Psalmist who cried out, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off...

Hebrews 8: 1-5; 10: 1; Colosians 2: 17. I took this photo while standing on a roof in Florida. The photo gives the image of heaven and earth in harmony, which to me is a "Thy kingdom come" prayer. The trees and clouds seem to be performing a duet, and the top of the tree line seems to mirror the lining along the top of the clouds. I was also struck by the obviously bright light of the sun that is hidden behind the clouds. It is as if the trees shaded in darkness are reaching up to touch the glory of the sun whose rays and beams are breaking past the clouds. The trees mirroring the clouds remind me that the earthly tabernacle and its rituals were only shadows of the true, which is the heavenly. The same is true for our existence. The earthly is only a shadow of the heavenly. The glory and beauty that is ours in eternity will be so much more wonderful than we can imagine now. The apostle Paul spoke of being caught up into paradise and hearing and seeing things that are ine...

L.D. was a colorful character who ran a country store a couple miles from Longs crossroads where I grew up. I used to stop in occasionally, and visit with him and any of the local farmers who happened to be standing around the old wood heater that sat in the middle of the one-room store. He watched and listened as people from the local churches dropped in. From his position behind the counter he would hear all the latest gossip and get a good whiff of all the “dirty laundry” to which he was exposed on an almost daily basis. Consequently he did not have a favorable impression of many of the church members who passed by. When one of the local pastors tried to talk with him about his need to repent, LD quickly responded, “You surely don’t want to check behind your members too close. Cause if you do, you’re going to be disappointed.” LD knew all that was going on. He could tell you who had been “on a drunk”, who was having an affair, and how the various communities took turns with their ep...

John 15: 26-27 “When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. And you also will bear witness…” Acts 5: 32 “…And we are His witness to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” These verses tell us two things. 1. That the Holy Spirit will anoint us to bear witness to Jesus Christ, His Lordship and His kingdom. 2. That the Holy Spirit will ALSO, apart from us, bear witness and give testimony to Jesus. We usually think in terms of Him enabling us to witness, but we should not overlook the “also” in the verses referred to above. We should remember that He will walk beside us to give His own witness. It is this second dimension of testimony that adds power to our sharing the gospel. Below are two examples of how I have seen this happen. In 1971 when Laurel and I were first married we were asked to speak at a youth retreat for a group of high school kids fr...

I remember years ago working on a construction site with my uncle who is a follower of Jesus. He hurt his arm, and the first words out of his mouth were "Praise the Lord!" One of the fellow workers said, "You just hurt your arm, why are you praising the Lord?" His reply was, "I could have broken it." How often in our unpleasant situations do we fail to give thanks that the Lord did not lay on us more than we could bear? If we look closely at the storms we face, we will see the silver lining traced by the hand of God and which represents a small glimpse of the greater glory of His presence and working that is hidden in and behind the apparent darkness. The sparrows do fall, but Jesus said that not one of them is forgotten before God, and not one of them falls apart from His knowledge. Jesus is reassuring us that the Father, who loves us with a stedfast and everlasting love, is aware of where we are and what we face. Like the sparrow we may face unpleasant s...

ROMANS 11: 33-36; DEUTERONOMY 32: 3-4 In all things we must acknowledge the Sovereignty of God. We must remember that His nature is love, wisdom, knowledge, truth, justice, and power. We do not have access to all the facts. Therefore, we must trust His wisdom and His power. Even when it seems that everything has gone sour or has fallen apart, we must remember that God is still on the throne now just as He has been throughout history. Though now we see as through a glass very dimly, someday we will be given the divine perspective. We will understand then with great clarity that truly He does all things well. We have every reason to stand in faith and hope. For our God is the God who works all things after the counsel of His own will and who causes all things to work together for good to those who love him. LUKE 23: 38-43; 24: 21; Matthew 27: 63 It seems that a criminal was the only one not suffering from "disillusionment" when Jesus was hanging on the cross. Becau...